Why Passion Is Not Something You Should Be Looking For Right Now

Imam Al Rezki
Sep 5, 2018 · 3 min read

Redifining what passion is and what you should do about it

I have just graduated from University and got accepted working for three months contract in one of the largest and fast-growing start-up company. My job description is to arrange company visit and giving whomever come to visit to the office a tour and explaining everything I know about the company to the visitors.

I feel very passionate about my job in the beginning although my performance is like a roller-coaster, full of ups and downs. Meeting new people, interact with them and tell a little jokes while giving the visitors the tour is what energized me the most. As I wasn’t receive visitors everyday, I was assigned to write an article of the internal event and I also like doing it.

I have always been a writer myself, but I stop doing it in high school and changing my path from creative writing into academic writing in University. Not just for all the papers my Proffessors gave me, but I was actually sent out some of my pieces for a competition and won the first place twice. Point is, I feel like writing is my passion and it’s always have been.

Right after my contract is almost finish, one of the recruiter asked me “what’s your passion?”. In that very moment, I feel like I have to answer with an interesting answer, so I said “Writing” because I am, but is it really?

After I finished my contract as an event coordinator for three months, I looked for another job specifically in writing. So I got accepted as a content writer in a property management company. I like what I write the first few days, but then I got bored easily. I thought maybe describing a property units that technically look all the same is not what I am passionate on writing. Without quitting my job, I continue doing what I think as my passion on my blog. But I couldn’t do it regularly either.

My journey on writing is also full of ups and downs. I am very undiscipline and have lots of unfinished drafts. Sometimes it got me thinking “Is writing really my passion?”

Later I found a very interesting article explaining a 10.000 hours rule by Malcolm Gladwell in the book Outliers. Gladwell stated “to become the world-class in any field, you need 10,000 hours of deliberate practice”. I also found an interesting TEDx talk about how choosing one particular thing and focus on doing it can lead him to success.

On the other hand, there is another theory that you can be success as a generalist. Caroline Ceniza-levine stated in her article at Forbes validate this. But even a generalist is ranging some part of expertise. Like being a generalist in marketing who is not only know how to be a content writer but also community offline engagement, graphic designer, film-making, social media management, etc. It allows us to overcome complex issues and see solutions from many angles.

In the end, if you are force to choose what you are passionate about and you seem like you don’t have the answer to it, choose one thing and do it passionately. As Terri Trespicio said in her TED Talk, passion is no longer an object but rather a feeling.

I might be good as a generalist, I might be not. But one thing for sure is I have to be able to choose one thing I wanted to focus on doing. Even if sometimes what I choose can put me down. Nothing comes easy, and there will be many things as an obstacles come in your way.

If you like acting, do it! Like music? why not! How hard it might be for you to do it regularly and whatever you choose to do, do it with passion!

Imam Al Rezki

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